Li Tong's reputation in the Three Kingdoms was not very famous, and many people were not familiar with him. But Sun Ce knew that this man was a ruthless person. His only regret was that he died too early. He died of illness in the 14th year of Jian'an, at the age of 42. His last task during his lifetime was to defeat Guan Yu, who wanted to raid Cao Ren's retreat and rescue Cao Ren. If it weren't for this, when Jiangxia and Nanjun became the front line of the battlefield, his achievements would never be inferior to Wenpin.

In history books, Li Tong is in the same volume as Wen Pin, Xu Chu and others. Most of them have no reputation. Xu Qian is famous because of the Romance of Legend, which is an exception. But in fact, these people are extremely important generals, otherwise the historians would not have listed them behind the five good generals. Li Tong's achievements lie in stabilizing the rear. When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought against Guandu, Li Tong firmly controlled Runan and ensured the safety of Cao Cao's rear. At that time, the person he partnered with was Zhao Yan.

Li Tong was from Pingchun, Jiangxia, but geographically speaking, Pingchun was located north of the Three Passes and connected with Runan. This is a zoning principle specially set by the court, and no county could occupy a geographical boundary ridge, so as not to rely on geographical advantages to seize one side. Nanyang County has a corner extending into the hinterland of Jiangxia, which is also due to this principle.

Li Tong started his family in Langling. He and Chen Gong, a county man, raised an army together. Zhou Zhi was also the one who raised an army at the same time. Li Tong wanted to kill Zhou Zhi and annex his subordinates. Chen Gong disagreed, so Li Tong did it himself, asked Zhou Zhi to come and drink, and then killed Zhou Zhi. Zhou Zhi's subordinates were in chaos and wanted to counterattack, but Chen Gong had no choice but to send troops with Li Tong to subdue Zhou Zhi's subordinates. Later, Chen Gong's wife Chen He rebelled and killed Chen Gong, hoping to take over his subordinates. Li Tong sent troops to kill Chen He and used Chen He's first priest Chen Gong.

At this point, Li Tong became the strongest armed force in the Langling area, with 5,000 households and 6,000 households. The entire Langling, Pingchun and other counties were within the control of his power. There were 14 cities in Jiangxia and more than 50,000 households, and Li Tong controlled about one-tenth of the force. Liu Xun wanted to occupy Jiangxia and Nanjun confronted Sun Ce, so he naturally wanted to win over Li Tong, so he appointed Li Tong as the commander of Anyang.

Li Tong was originally a private armed force like Wu Ba and others. Now with the official appointment of Jiangxia Prefect, he became an officer and soldier, wanting to attack Wu Ba and others and expand his strength. Wu Ba and others were originally Yellow Turbans and had a great strength. Li Tong dared not provoke him easily, but after Liu Pi and Gong Du were recruited by Sun Ce and his son, the strength of the remaining troops left in the mountains was greatly reduced, one was reduced and the other was rising. He was moved and naturally could not let Wu Ba pass through his territory smoothly.

After listening to Wu Ba’s accusation, Sun Ce was not worried. Li Tong was very motivated and had a very good choice for several annexation times. Such a person would not be a reckless man, and he knew who to choose. In history, he had not chosen Yuan Shao, and now he might not choose Yuan Shao, at least he would not choose Liu Xun.

Sun Ce said to Wu Ba, "Leave this matter to me, please contact others and let them all come to Langling."

Wu Ba was skeptical and agreed, but he was not motivated enough. Sun Ce was not in a hurry. He knew that Wu Ba would wait and see, which was human nature. Only when he defeated Li Tong, they could be devoted. If Jiang Gan could say that Li Tong would surrender, it would be even better.

——

Jiang Gan drove a light car and entered Pingchun City.

Shortly after Sun Ce led his troops out of Pingyu City, Li Tong received the news and immediately gave up Langling and shrank to Pingchun. Pingchun was south of the Huai River, backed by Dongshan, one of the remaining veins of Tongbai Mountain. It was easy to defend but difficult to attack. He was a native of Pingchun and knew the terrain very well. Facing Zhou Zhi, Chen He and others, he was fearless and dared to fight and rush. Facing Wu Ba and others, he also had enough confidence to take the initiative. However, facing Sun Ce, he did not have such confidence.

He had heard of Sun Ce's defeat of Xu Rong in the Rangcheng area and wiped out 20,000 Xiliang soldiers. Of course, he also heard of Sun Ce's killing of powerful men in Nanyang and taking over his family property. He was also a powerful man and did not want to give up the land in his hands, otherwise he would have surrendered to Sun Ce long ago.

When Li Tong learned that Jiang Gan was coming, he was very happy and immediately sent someone to welcome Jiang Gan in. Jiang Gan was also a famous scholar between Jianghuai. He took the initiative to visit, which made Li Tong feel glossy on his face. Not only did he meet in the main hall, but he also invited many subordinates, and the ceremony was very grand.

When both sides greeted each other, Li Tong introduced his subordinates one by one, and then asked politely: "I wonder if Ziyi is here, what advice can I give?"

Jiang Gan smiled and looked around. "Come to save your lives."

Li Tong was not surprised. He knew that Jiang Gan came from Langling and was probably a lobbyist for Sun Ce. Sun Ce had a very different relationship with the Yellow Turbans. He came here at the invitation of Wu Ba and others. "Where did you start this?"

"I heard that there are five or six thousand soldiers in the capital now?"

Li Tong stroked the short beard under his jaw and smiled proudly. "Dare to teach Ziyi to learn that I have just accepted the appointment of the county general and am already the Yang'an Duwei. Pingchun and Wu County are all my jurisdiction."

"Oh, is that so many people?" Jiang Gan pretended to be surprised.

"The two counties add up to each other, there are more than 13,000 households and nearly 60,000 households."

Jiang Gangong bowed. "Congratulations to the Duwei, these two counties have more household registrations than Langling, almost 60% of those in Pingyu."

Li Tong was extremely embarrassed. Jiang Gan seemed to praise him, but in fact he was hurt. More than 10,000 households were nothing. Sun Ce controlled the entire Yuzhou, and there were 20,000 households in Pingyu, Runan County alone. Langling also had a large population. He had been active near Langling for so long, but he had not been able to control Langling. As soon as Sun Ce came, he directly withdrew from Langling County.

Jiang Gan looked around and saw the expressions of Li Tong and others. "Do you know that Liu Zitai is an old official of General Yuan?"

Li Tong remained silent.

"Liu Zitai was able to be the prefect of Jiangxia because he was ordered by General Yuan. Now General Yuan died in the battlefield. Liu Zitai neither went to the funeral nor went to the funeral, but he had troops to fight against General Yuan's designated heir. Such a person is worthy of your support? If he was the prefect of Jiujiang, I would feel very ashamed."

Li Tong coughed: "What Ziyi said is inappropriate. General Yuan is not good, how can Sun Ce be his heir? To inherit it, it should also be inherited by General Yuan's son Yuan Boyang..."

Before Li Tong finished speaking, Jiang Gan interrupted him. "Have the commander met George Sinpixin, Yingchuan recently?"

Li Tong opened his mouth and said to him, not daring to look at Jiang Gan. Jiang Gan sneered: "I have seen this. Then let me ask again, has the lieutenant ever seen General Yuan's son-in-law Huang Zimei?"

Without waiting for Li Tong to answer, Jiang Gan said loudly: "Xin Zhuozhi escorted Yuan Boyang back to his hometown and guarded General Yuan's tomb. He did not know how to assist Yuan Boyang in sending tribute and mourning, but incited the Duwei and the heir designated by General Yuan to be enemies. It was unfaithful. Huang Zimei, as the chief son-in-law of General Yuan, was incompatible with Liu Zitai, was unfilial. They provoked right and wrong and captured Runan and Jiangxia counties in water and fire, which was unkind. They misled the Duwei and hit stones with eggs, which was unfaithful. Unfaithful and unkind, unkind and unrighteous. The Duwei and the Duwei were not afraid of death and death, and the devil would be devastated for thousands of years?"

"Who said we will definitely lose?" An old Confucian scholar stood up and retorted: "No matter how strong Sun Ce and his son are, can they still fight against Yuan Benchu?"

"Who are you?"

The old Confucian scholar snorted and called out a name loudly. Jiang Gan thought for a while and shook his head. "I haven't heard it before."
Chapter completed!